A Metaphor For Love
by Haruka Kokoro
Summary: She believes the best dishes are made with love & care, he thinks the best dishes come from a good education. Are there too many cooks in the Konoha Bistro kitchen? // AU, language & mild inuendo, SasuSaku, SaiSaku, NaruHina, InoShika.


**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto. Or Sasuke, or Sakura. Heck, I don't own anything. This is Aru-chan's plot bunny as well, so I don't own that either.

**Aru-monster** influenced this fic, shoved the plot bunny down my throat and _demanded_ I write it. xD so this is all thanks to her genius.

This will be a SasuSaku, but the most glorious thing about it is that...

It involves a kitchen.

Two chefs.

And lord knows how many food fights.

I've also been told that I should mention the creme brulé. =P

Enjoy.

**Wanted: Sous Chef to work at the Konoha Bistro.**

**Must have experience and people skills.**

**Please respond to the number on the business card to schedule an interview.**

It all started with an advertisement. Not to mention an Akatsuki Special with a side of fries. Usually, a Monday night meant Chinese take-out for Sakura Haruno and boyfriend Sai. But on this particular Monday night, Sounds Delicious, the restaurant the couple always ordered from run by the prestigious Orochimaru, happened to be closed. Perhaps it was fate, or a leak in the ceiling, but whatever it was it meant no Chinese take-out.

It was when the rosy-haired Sakura Haruno lead her boyfriend out the doors of the Akatsuki Grill, that a certain light blue slip of paper pinned to the advertisement board caught her eye. Stopping short, she reached up to carefully unfold the flier, lips moving without a sound as she read over the wanted ad, bright green eyes growing steadily wider. Then she squealed, an ear splitting squeal that made her art student boyfriend cringe as she flung her arms around him in a flurry of pink hair and red scarf.

This is how Sakura Haruno ended up sitting in a café in front of Jiraiya and Tsunade, the joint owners of the Konoha Bistro. "All we need is a Sous Chef who knows her stuff." Jiraiya drawled over Tsunade who had been rattling off the menu at the prestigious Konoha Bistro. He was far more content staring at Sakura's body than at anything else. Sakura shifted uncomfortably in her seat, trying to focus on Tsunade instead of the pervert that was Jiraiya. _'When a potential employer tells you that your eyes are Granny Smith green, it creeps a girl out!'_ the woman thought with an invisible grimace as Tsunade proceeded to knock Jiraiya over the head ranting about how important it was that the new Sous Chef had flawless people skills and was efficient while in the kitchen. At this, Sakura spoke up "Well, I don't want to sound haughty, but I think I have good people skills. But I was also raised in a family that cooked a lot, and I believe that the best dishes are the ones made by hand. I guess the dishes that have character, emotion, those sorts of things, are the best dishes." Tsunade and Jiraiya had fallen silent, before the perverted old man slapped his knee and exclaimed "I think we found our new Sous Chef!" only to have Tsunade retort "You've said that about the last five that came in here..." trailing off as she looked Sakura up and down, then relented with a sigh "I suppose you'll do." and that was it. Sakura was hired as the new Sous Chef at the Konoha Bistro.

Sakura tried not to feel nervous as she located the back door to the Konoha Bistro that Friday evening. The back of the restaurant appeared run down, with a rusted railing leading down a flight of concrete steps to the dumpster. No sooner had the woman noticed, a boy swung what appeared to be a very rusty metal door open with practiced ease, dragging two large bags of trash down the steps and to the dumpster before scuttling back inside.

With a deep breath, the Haruno slipped through the doorway into a whitewashed hallway. From down this hall, the sound of the kitchen escaped the swinging doors and reached Sakura like a melody escapes a true musician and weasels it's way into the heart of the listener. Above this melody, were voices. The choral effect of the tiled room made the chaos sound like the cries of angels. _'Okay, Sakura. Turn that poetic mind of yours off.'_ the girl reprimanded herself with a smirk as she walked toward the voices. _'Time to get serious.' _

Sakura shoved open the silver door with it's round glass pane, suddenly visible to those who worked through the mayhem in the kitchen of the Konoha Bistro. Then, everyone stopped. Simmering veggies hissed as they fried, and water ran forgotten down the drain. And that's when the poop hit the fan. "Choji, where's that pork fillet? And Shino, no one's going to wait forever. Where are the damn shallots?" the cold voice demanded of the staff, who rushed to comply and chorused shouts of acknowledgment. So with that, the spell was broken, and everyone returned to the frenzy that somehow turned out top of the line cuisine.

The man running the kitchen had ebony hair, the sort that made women squeal and want to touch. His eyes were slate grey, which looked as if they could bore right through a person's soul as he scrutinized them. But there were dark blueish circles under his eyes, he appeared haggard and irritated with everyone around him. A real executive chef if Sakura had ever seen one.

It only took the girl a moment to tie back her hair, snag an apron, and begin to cleanse her hands under the still running water. Then, a loud voice screamed just behind her "Sakuraaa!" and a pair of muscled arms wrapped themselves around her ribs. It took all her self control not to turn around and slap the man, who's flaxen hair stuck out in all directions as he grinned widely at her. As she disentangled herself from the boy and turned to face him, she heard his exclamation of "Boy, Jiraiya was right! You sure do have green eyes!" that evoked peals of girlish laughter from Sakura, who flushed lightly at the comment.

The boy gave a mock salute as the cold voice called him back "The name's Naruto. I was the last Sous Chef. Couldn't stand the bastard," with that, he jerked his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the cold voice and continued "but I'm sure you'll do just fine." then Naruto left her with a brilliant grin and scampered off into the kitchen. _'Bastard, eh? Better see this grumpy pants for yourself, Sakura.'_ she thought, weaving through the kitchen all the while receiving shouts of welcome and the occasional pat on the back. When she reached the center of the fray, she found the executive chef in all his chaotic glory. Not to say he himself was chaotic, far from it, he was calm and went about every task as if it didn't matter any more than the last. It was the atmosphere around him that was chaotic and practically writhed beneath his control.

She reached out to tug on his sleeve, while he was calmly lacing into the equally calm Saucier. The chef turned, facing the apprehensive girl with a condescending smirk "Sous Chef?" it was more of a question than anything, as if he were challenging her status in society instead of her place in his kitchen. "Sakura Haruno, I'm the replacement." he took the hand she offered, shook it once, and let it go before replying "Sasuke Uchiha." then he turned back to the Saucier as if nothing had happened and left Sakura to her own devices. She hesitated for only a moment, when Sasuke turned back to her with a fatigued sigh and stated "You're so annoying. Do I need to babysit you all the time? I thought we hired you so you could babysit this bunch." he inclined his head at the group of staff near the ovens, his feathery bangs fluttering into his eyes.

The new Sous Chef didn't bother answering, she chose instead to stride purposefully toward the stoves where the aroma emanating was far from the delicious scent that wafted from other stations. It ended with two charred steaks and a roll of Sasuke's granite eyes, but overall it wasn't horrible for her first act as Sous Chef. As Sakura practically ran from station to station, the sunny Naruto caught her eye from where he was perched on a counter near a raven haired girl, and waved at Sakura with a grin. She was about to wave back when a voice threatened "Don't distract my Sous Chef, idiot." and then Naruto began protesting loudly, only to be quieted by the raven haired girl who offered him a spoon coated in icing which he proceeded to stuff into his mouth.

As for Sasuke, he seemed to be content that the silver eyed girl had managed to shut Naruto up even if it was at the expense of an icing laden spoon. Yet Naruto still managed to should out "Hey bastard! Why don't you introduce Sakura to the gang?" Sakura cocked her head with a small smile, noticing Naruto exclaimed nearly everything he said, twirling the whisk with practiced ease in a bowl of creamy pale batter which she had been offered by a staff member. On a normal day, Sasuke would have either given Naruto the finger or lined up a series of tasks to keep his idle mind occupied instead of thinking up such silly things as introductions. There was a reason Sasuke Uchiha rarely ever went out to meet customers without another staff member, also the reason he rarely ever went out period. People frustrated him, he didn't have time for the frivolities they enjoyed. He was a chef, not a host nor was he an entertainer like Shikamaru Nara at the bar.

Uchiha's didn't give up, but once every blue moon they did relent. With a blunt 'I've got far too much to do and I can not believe you had me do this' sort of attitude, he began "The idiot is the Tournant." Sasuke Uchiha used the french term with pride, not having gone to a prestigious culinary art school for nothing "Hinata Hyuuga is the Patissier, her cousin Neji Hyuuga is our resident Saucier." the long haired man looked up from his work briefly, long enough for Sakura to recognize the same silver eyes as the other Hyuuga staff member. "Kiba, the Poissonier. Choji is our rotisseur. Entremetier and our fill in Garde Manger, Shino. Happy?" he demanded of Naruto, before returning to arranging the meal on a pristine white plate.

The rest of the staff took Sasuke's returning to his masterpiece as their cue and returned to their duties. Sakura had no sooner done a quick tour of the stations, made a few comments to the different station chefs all the while mixing the batter, returned said batter to Choji and began garnishing a dish of roasted pork fillet when a waitress blew through the swinging doors. Dressed in a black pencil skirt cut just below her knees, her flaxen blonde mane hung in loose curls down the back of her white blouse to the small of her back. She addressed Sasuke with a flutter of her eyelashes, practically panting from the exertion of running in pencil thin heels "Sasuke, tables 3, 7, 11 and 12 have just arrived. TenTen and Hana are taking their orders, get ready for hell." and with that, she scuttled right back out as quickly as she came.

Sasuke tried not to audibly sigh at the waitress who had quite obviously been flirting shamelessly with him, as he slid the plate to the end of the counter with a practiced hand. Had he put too much force behind the little push, the dish they had spent precious minutes of the day on as well as money would have been ruined. Now that, would have been a waste of his time. The chef turned, staring above the writhing mass of bodies that was the kitchen staff of the Konoha Bistro and announced as he caught the emerald eyes of his second in command "Sous Chef, I'd better not have to babysit you..." and when he turned back to his work, Sakura allowed herself a small smile. And that's when the kitchen of Konoha Bistro began to feel like home.

**Author's Note:** So, I'd like to thank Aru-Monster, again, for being an amazing plot bunny shover, and for editing all this (nearly three hours spent feeding her a few sentences every so many minutes over MSN). For those of you who just read this, I'd like to thank you for that. SasuSaku Livejournal community people, kudos for dropping by. And reviewers...well, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Reviews mean chapters, so review. =


End file.
